1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic devices that can perform an input operation using an operation portion and that can perform wireless communication. The present invention particularly relates to an electronic device having a wireless communication function suitable as, for example, an in-car electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, some in-car electronic devices such as car navigation systems have been equipped with an antenna and a transmission-and-reception circuit (wireless communication processor) so as to have a wireless communication function with which the in-car electronic devices can form an in-car wireless LAN together with a device such as a mobile phone of a driver so as to be able to perform wireless communication with an external base station or the like.
For such an electronic device, the following technology has been developed. In order for the electronic device to perform wireless communication with devices, such as mobile phones at or around the driver's seat, with high sensitivity, an antenna is installed in a hazard switch operation button disposed in front of the driver's seat (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-187489, for example).
The following technology has been also developed for such electronic devices. An antenna is disposed at an end portion of a circuit board of an electronic device installed in an instrument panel so as to face a medium slot of the electronic device. With this technology, the electronic device can perform wireless communication with devices, such as mobile phones at or around the driver's seat, with high sensitivity. In addition, this technology eliminates the need for connection between a power feeding portion of the antenna and a transmission-and-reception circuit of the circuit board via a cable (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-272998, for example).
However, the technology disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-187489 involves an operation of installing the antenna in the hazard switch operation button and an operation of drawing the cable from the power feeding portion of the antenna to the transmission-and-reception circuit. These operations are complicated and thus increase the cost of installation. The technology disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-272998, on the other hand, does not involve connection between the power feeding portion of the antenna and the transmission-and-reception circuit via a cable. However, the antenna needs to be selectively positioned considering the positional relationship with the medium slot, thereby limiting the use of a particular area of the circuit board of the electronic device to installation of the antenna. This positioning requirement of the antenna prevents the circuit board from being further reduced in size.